There are many ways to watch a particular anime series or movie, be it streaming with CR, Funi, or Netflix (or illegally), downloading (illegally), buying DVDs/Blu Ray, or what have you. However, does anyone use their public library? I know I can't always find every series I want to watch on CR or Netflix (I don't care for Funi because their website always gives me trouble), but I don't want to download/stream illegally. So, I turn to the library. Obviously this has its drawbacks. The discs aren't always in great condition, they won't always have the series you're looking for, or, like it is at my library, many DVDs get stolen.

My library has a good amount of anime and manga and I can often find what I'm looking for. It's a whole district with many branches, so if my main branch doesn't have what I'm looking for but another branch does I can request for it to be sent to me. There are two problems I run into often enough though. I look up a series, see it in the catalog, scroll down, then see it says "lost". More often than not this means the person that had it last pretty much stole it. The other issue is when the whole district simply doesn't have what I'm looking for. I can't do much about lost items, but my library allows patrons to request items or purchase or interlibrary loan (borrowing from other libraries), so I have requested many series for purchase. I'm sure not all libraries have something like that, but it's definitely worth it to see if yours does. Just about everything I request is ordered unless it's out of print or something.

This brings up another question though. What do you think about people stealing anime (and manga) from the library? I'm sure they do it because anime DVDs are expensive and the library is a good way to get anime for free. At my library if an item on your account is "lost" your account gets locked and you can't do anything until you either turn the item in or pay for it. So, I guess if you either pay the library (which seems counterproductive) or just don't care about whether or not your account is locked then the anime is yours. My library also, for whatever reason, doesn't have the things at the door that go off if you haven't checked something out. They never put any in, which means someone could effectively walk out of the library with whatever they want. Granted, it's harder to leave with DVDs because they're in a machine and you have to check them out before you get the discs. But, this can be bypassed by just putting an empty case in the book drop when you turn your items in. It checks items in automatically and there is nobody there to make sure the discs are there before it gets checked in. And there is no log keeping track of who has checked out what, so once it gets checked in they have no way I telling who turned it in. So, it can't be traced back to you and you get keep the discs.

I've only theorized how people make off with anime and manga and other materials, but obviously it happens because there is so much manga and anime that says it's lost and it drives me nuts. Other people want to watch those shows, and when you look them up in the catalog and find them you get excited. But then when you see that the one or two copies they have are all "lost" you get disappointed. It's unfortunate that some people have no qualms about just taking manga or anime or anything that doesn't belong to them. You can argue all you want about how you can't afford anime and manga and that's why you take it from the library, but that doesn't make it any less wrong and basically puts it on par with illegal downloading and streaming because you're still not purchasing/supporting the industry. Okay, so you don't have to pay at the library either, but they buy everything in their catalog for their patrons to enjoy. I can't afford anime or manga either. Do I take it from the library? No. Okay, I don't always get everything in on time, but I still get it in. And I'll admit, I've been going to that library for like 8 years. I don't think I could ever take anything from them.

in my opinion its fine if you steal from the library but then pay them back i have done this before and they actually fine you for less than what the item is worth

We get the full price of the item. And it doesn't matter if you pay them back because the whole point of the library is that anybody should be able to check out whatever the library has in its catalog. If you steal things, even if you pay them back, that means that the next person misses out on whatever it is that you stole. I can see how it can be seen as a "discount" in this situation, because you're paying for the item at a lower price but you're completely missing the whole point of the library and public property. I guess I just think differently because I know how frustrating it is when I want to check something out but all the copies are marked as lost. I personally don't want to do that to somebody else. Not only that, but library discs are rarely in the greatest condition (may be watchable, but still seriously scratched). Discs that have been abused bothers the hell out of me, so I wouldn't want those anyway. And the whole "putting empty cases in book drop and keeping discs thing"? I have to have original cover art. Not to mention the call number often gets printed straight on or is a sticker that just won't come off (if you keep the case), which is seriously annoying. I'm particular about ascetics when it comes to DVDs/games/books. My books seriously have to be the same cover design for a serious (meaning I can't have a mix of old Harry Potter covers and new). It just doesn't look good. So some of my view point is my aversion to theft and not wanting to rob people of their chance to watch a specific anime and some of this is about my particularities.

I think stealing from a library is awful, I mean come on they lend out tons of stuff to people for free, things they had to pay for! Having worked at my college's library I know for experience that in most cases when something is stolen, they have to postpone buying new things in order to replace the stolen items and it sucks.
We had a surprisingly large anime DVD collection, especially when it came to Studio Ghibli stuff, which made planning anime club events easy because when we ran out of ideas we had the movie night trump card lol.